Statutory holiday
entitlement (UK)

The entitlement and its arithmetic

5.6 weeks scales with the working pattern: five days a week gives 28 days, three days a week gives 16.8, and the statutory figure caps at 28 days however many days are worked. There is no UK statutory right to bank holidays off; the 8 bank holidays can sit inside the 5.6 weeks if the contract says so, which is why "25 days plus bank holidays" is a benefit, not a legal echo.

The irregular-hours regime

Since the Employment Rights (Amendment) Regulations 2023, holiday for irregular-hours and part-year workers accrues at 12.07% of hours worked each pay period, and rolled-up holiday pay (a 12.07% uplift on each payslip instead of paid time off) is lawful for those workers only. Holiday pay must reflect normal remuneration, including regular overtime and commission, not bare basic pay, a line of case law that still generates back-pay claims. The Employment Rights Act 2025 added a duty from April 2026 to keep holiday entitlement and pay records for six years, which converts sloppy tracking from bad practice into a compliance breach.

Comparing the three regimes

Australia: four weeks' annual leave under the NES with 17.5% leave loading where awards provide it. New Zealand: four weeks under the Holidays Act with its notorious pay calculations. The UK: 5.6 weeks including potential bank-holiday absorption, with the calculation complexity concentrated on irregular workers. The shared failure mode is identical in all three: leave configured once in payroll and never audited against how people actually work.